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In the Generation X article posted back in August of last year (have I really been that slow on working on this?) the list of items to be discussed were:

  • Sacred Tradition
  • Sanctifying Grace
  • Sacramental
  • Corporeal Works of Mercy
  • Spiritual Works of Mercy
  • Indulgences
  • Mass Cards
  • Having a Mass said for a deceased relative and/or significance
  • Act of Contrition
  • Scapular
  • Pentecost
  • 4 Marks of the Church
  • 4 Last Things
  • Mortal and/or Venial Sin
  • Communion of Saints
  • Purgatory
  • Transubstantiation
  • Immaculate Conception (or you believe incorrectly it was when Jesus was conceived)
  • Papal Infallibility

Today I will lump two of them together: 4 Marks of the Church and 4 Last Things.

And I’ll be honest with you. I had never heard of either of them before this article.

I had discussed them with a friend of mine and she happened to have just read an article about them. She sent me an email with all the information and I stored it away for this post.

Only problem with that – I decided a couple of weeks ago to migrate all my email to Outlook. When all the email filtered through to Outlook, I didn’t realize that it was going to delete all the email I had saved on gmail – and all that excess email dating back to 2007 was deleted. Along with the article on this topic.

Fail.

So here is the research that I have done – and what I have learned.

The 4 Marks of the Catholic church are: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. [maybe I knew that after all...] They are also sometimes referred to as the attributes of the Church.

One: We are one body. We follow one Lord. We believe in one baptism, one God. In scriptures, Jesus promised us that there would be “one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16) The church is one because of her source: the Trinity. (CCC 813)

We are united as one in bonds of unity. “Charity binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col: 3:14), but the unity of the Church also comes from the visible bonds of communion:

  • Profession of one faith received from the Apostles (Nicene Creed)
  • Common celebration of divine worship – especially the sacraments
  • apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders – maintaining the fraternal connection of God’s family (CCC 815)

Holy: The word holy here does not mean that the members of the Church are holy – it means that the author of the Church – God Himself – is holy. The people who are apart of the Church – past, present and future – are sinners. We are defiled humans who sin greatly. There are times where the wrong decisions are made by people in authority – for whatever reason – but God always rights them. [One would lead to believe that in a place of authority where things are being decided that are not following the will of God, that they were not listening to His voice/word and heeding his own judgement. Could be argued that decisions are also made in an act of pride and power.]

It is through the grace of God that we acquire holiness. The Church is united with Christ – and sanctified by Him, through Him and with Him. (CCC 824)

The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in  her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 827)

Catholic: The word catholic (small c) means universal. The Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. (CCC 830) We are called as missionaries to go out and preach the gospel to the world.

All men are called to belong to the new People of God. This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread througout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one…The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks for the retun of all humanity and all it’s goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit. (CCC 831)

Apostolic: The Church is apostolic because she was founded on the apostles:

  • She was and remains built on “the foundation of the Apostles,”the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself
  • With the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the church keeps and hands on the teaching, the “good deposit,” the salutary words she has heard from the apostles
  • She continues to be taught, sanctified, and guided by the apostles until Christ’s return, through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, “assisted by priests, in union with the successor of Peter, the Church’s supreme pastor” (CCC 857)

Four Last Things

The Four Last Things are: Death, Judgement, Hell and Heaven. I did not find much for information on the last things – though I think they are pretty explainable on their own. There are numerous sites one could go to if more information is liked. Here are a few:

http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/lastmenu.htm

http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/4last-things.htm

http://catholicism.org/category/four-last-things

 

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